When You Love Me For Me
by Mouse in the Midnight
Summary: While out riding, Hoss encountered a lady named Resa, who was wandering Cartwright land, lost and a victim of memory loss. He brought her to the Ponderosa to stay until she recovers. Resa is absolutely terrified of horses, likely due to the incident which caused her amnesia. Hoss determines to help overcome this fear by taking her for a horseback ride.


**Summary:**

While out riding, Hoss Cartwright encounters a lady named Resa, who was wandering Cartwright land, lost, and a victim of memory loss. He brings her to the Ponderosa to stay until she can regain her memory. Resa adjusts to ranch life well enough... all except for the fact that she is absolutely terrified of horses, likely due to the incident which caused her amnesia. Hoss determines to help her overcome this fear by taking her for a horseback ride.

 **Author's Note:**

This is meant to be an excerpt from a larger story that I may or may not finish. It was originally a sort of songfic, but I figured the story looked fine on its own and took out the lyrics.

* * *

Resa took tremendous care to tread as lightly as possible when she entered the Cartwrights' barn. Any other time, she would be entirely too frightened to set foot in a place anywhere near a horse, but today she was too curious as to where Hoss had gone, and she suspected he had gone off to tend to the animals. He had been her companion for the past few weeks ever since she had woken by the creek on Cartwright land. Although Ben, Adam, Little Joe, and Hop Sing had all been very kind to her in letting her stay with them on the Ponderosa ranch, she only felt truly comfortable around Hoss, the gentle giant who had discovered her at the edge of that creek.

Her dark brown gaze darted about the interior of the building for a moment or two. A cow in a nearby pen lowed softly upon noticing her. She whispered a quiet word of assurance to it and stepped further into the barn. Finally, she spotted the large figure of her familiar friend. He stood at a pen to the left of the barn door, mid-conversation with one of the animals. Every tense muscle in her body eased as she made her way to his side, being accompanied by a warm, completing feeling that had only grown since that moment by the creek.

"Hello, Hoss. Who are you talking to?" Resa leaned slightly forward, strands of light brown hair cascading alongside her angled cheekbones. She couldn't resist an amused chuckle when the rancher's son jumped and began to rub his neck sheepishly. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"Um..." Hoss embarrassedly lifted his tanned face, which glistened with the sweat of hard labour, while Resa noted the enormous bales of hay that were piled next to the pen. He must have been hauling them around the interior of the barn up until now. "H-howdy, Miss Resa. I was just lookin' after Junebug here."

"Junebug?" Resa inquired, peering around Hoss's broad frame. A chestnut mare, whose mane seemed nearly pure white, returned her questioning stare from behind the wooden bars of the pen. Resa's heart skipped a couple of beats at the sight of the horse. She quickly backed away.

"No, no, don't worry, Miss Resa!" Hoss lifted two big palms in effort to indicate there was no threat. "Junebug wouldn't hurt ya. After all, she'd been feelin' kinda poorly lately." He turned calmly to rest one of his hands on the mare's muzzle and stroke delicately. "Poor thing took ill a while back and 's been cooped up in this dadburn barn since. Wasn't nothin' a little extra attention couldn't fix, though." His square face crinkled into a caring smile towards Junebug.

"I… oh." Resa nudged back into place the strands of her hair that had come loose in her momentary terror. "I see." Her heart returned to its regular beating and twinged with a certain amount of shame, for having been so frightened of a creature that had only just recovered from illness. She took a breath and willed herself to step forward again, closer to Junebug and by Hoss's side.

"I wasn't about to give up on her. She's got that old twinkle back in her eyes again." Hoss laughed softly, scratching Junebug behind the ear. "She'll be right as rain now." He then directed his warm expression down at Resa. "Speakin' of, how are you feelin', Miss Resa? Any better?"

"I'm feeling much better now, thanks to you and your family." Resa nodded. Her breath returned to her in enthusiasm to express her gratitude. Yet, just as soon as it came, it left her again, as she felt her throat tightening with emotion for her next thought. "If you hadn't let me stay here and recover… I don't know what would have happened. I… owe you a great deal…" Resa bowed her head for a moment, parsing the many fates she might have met had she had not encountered the Cartwrights' kindness. She struggled to find breath again, wanting to continue this speech of thankfulness.

Hoss waved his hand dismissively, preventing her from continuing. "It wasn't nothin', ma'am. You don't owe us a thing. We're happy to help."

Resa lifted her eyes towards the half-Swede, opening her mouth to protest. However, she suddenly found herself at a loss for words at the sight of his genuine smile. She flusteredly averted her gaze, feeling her cheeks flushing red as Junebug's coat.

"I… very well." Was the best response she could muster.

She pushed those same unruly strands of hair behind her ears, finally looking up towards Junebug. The mare's dark eyes blinked tranquilly back at her. Resa took a chance to trust Hoss and his horse, slowly extending her hand towards Junebug's muzzle. She was surprised to think that Junebug may leaned forward to meet her hand, but continued on to gingerly place her hand on the horse's muzzle and stroke.

"There, now. Y'all are hitting it off just fine." Hoss watched as Resa began to warm up to the mare, removing his cream ten-gallon hat and brushing a bead of sweat trickling down his brow.

"… I can hardly believe she wasn't feeling well not too long ago." Resa commented quietly, flattered that Junebug was responding so well to her. "She looks… so strong and beautiful to me."

"… yeah…" Hoss's deep, accented voice was almost a whisper.

Resa felt his compassionate blue gaze upon her and sensed that he was agreeing with her in more ways than one. She sent him a glance out of the corner of her eye, wondering if she was correct in her suspicions but choosing not to address it verbally. It took everything within her power to control the heat that involuntarily climbed to her cheeks—a complete effort in futility.

A few moments of silence passed. Junebug pawed the ground and nickered. Hoss looked at her, his thick brows furrowing slightly as if he were attempting to intrepret what the mare was attempting to communicate. Again, Junebug nickered, more loudly this time, and lightly butted her head against the wooden bars. An expression of understanding finally lit up Hoss's face, then was replaced by one of hesitation.

"… Miss Resa? I don't… figure you'd wanna go for a ride, would you?"

"A ride?" Resa echoed, immediately and worriedly turning to face Hoss. "You don't mean a horseback ride?"

"You could take Junebug…" Hoss went on cautiously. "She's been in this pen so long. I know she'd love it if you took her out for a big ol' gulp of fresh air."

"Me? On a horse?" Resa tried to hide the panic that was lacing her sentences. "I-I don't know. I wouldn't want to—I don't think that I could—" She began to wave her hands nervously and fiddle with her fingers anxiously.

"I think it'd be good for the both of ya." Hoss gently took one of Resa's hands, which sent her already pounding heartbeat careening. "You've both been stuck in a building for some time, tryin' to get over an ailment. Now you're feelin' a bit better, it's time to get out and face the world again."

"I… suppose…" Resa choked out.

Hoss gave her hand a comforting squeeze. "And don't you worry, Junebug's just as gentle as can be. She wouldn't let a thing happen to you. You just gotta trust her. Y'see, horses can kinda sense when you're scared, and it scares them, too."

Resa bit her lip, knowing she would have to face her fears sooner or later. Hoss turned and slid the bridle onto Junebug. He took the reins and slid them into Resa's hand.

Unable to deny the feeling that overwhelmed her when his huge hand finally let her go of her slender one, she sighed. "… alright."

Hoss gave her a grin. She felt her knees weakening at the sight of it. Was that from the dread of riding a horse or from the delight of having made him smile?

"Alright, wait here a second." He turned to get his own horse from another pen in the barn. "I'll get Chub and we'll ride with you."

Moments later, he was leading Resa and Junebug, away from the barn and the ranch house, into the expanse of the Ponderosa. The four of them soon found themselves in the countryside of the Cartwrights' plot, surrounded by rolling green hills and sparkling blue lakes, backdropped with mighty mountains and proud pinetrees.

Resa leaned back against one of the pines and watched Hoss. He was ensuring that both Chub and Junebug were saddled up properly. She had hoped to take this moment to collect her thoughts and garner as much motivation as she could, but discovered that she was unable to focus. Hoss was murmuring into the horses' ears again. She guessed he was encouraging them not to be bothered by her own foolish fearfulness, and scoffed at herself for being such a weakling.

Yet, she studied his broad shoulders, his long legs, his thick arms, his strong chin and jawline… and she wondered… how could a man so colossal and so powerful be so gentle… as he truly was? Could he be feeling the same warm feeling… that she had been feeling all this time?

Hoss gave Junebug's a final, reassuring pat, before turning to see where Resa had moved to. He saw her half-hiding behind the trunk of the pine tree and felt his heart sink a little. He was certain she had thought of him as an intimidating, foreboding giant, and now here he was forcing her to ride an animal she was already so terrified of. Hesitantly, he approached her, leaning 'round the trunk but being too abashed to meet her eyes.

"Miss Resa, if you'd rather we go back to the ranch house…" He began, removing his hat and fiddling with it.

Resa turned to him, standing up straight. She was tall for a woman, but still a good foot shorter than himself, and her frame, albeit solid for a woman, was still so delicate in comparison to his own. Nevertheless, the stance she was suddenly taking startled him, and when he looked into her dark-brown eyes, he saw something burning with such sureness.

"I'm ready, Hoss." Her voice had none of the shakiness from the words spoken in the barn.

Hoss's pure blue eyes blinked, following Resa as she moved past him and directly over to Junebug. He stood stunnedly for a moment, watching her softly yet confidently interact with the mare. He finally followed her and stood by her side, wondering what he had just seen in her eyes and why it echoed a similar feeling he had been dealing with since the moment he'd meet her by the creek.

Their eyes met for a second and searched each other's for any sign that one felt the same way the other did. Hoss placed his hands on Resa's waist and lifted her up. Her hands secured themselves on his shoulders as he did so. They lingered there for a time even after Hoss had already placed Resa on Junebug's back.

Resa leaned forward quickly and pressed her lips to Hoss's jawline. She smiled, despite the crimson that dusted her features with, and turned to grasp Junebug's reins. The chestnut mare suddenly took off at a light canter, leaving Hoss standing there in a mild daze.

"Hey, wait up!" Hoss at last spoke, and mounted his dark-coated stallion to gallop after Resa and Junebug.

"I don't know what I did!" Resa called back, laughing confusedly.

"Slow down, Junebug!" Hoss couldn't resist a laugh of his own, chasing the two females down the hill and into the tall grass of the field that stretched out before them.

Junebug nickered in what could almost have been amusement, her tail lifted proudly, as if she was well-aware of what she was doing, and led Hoss and Chub on in the silly chase around the field.

Hoss and his stallion caught up with Resa and her mare after a minute or two of going in playful circles. Hoss reached out and took Junebug by the reins, gently pulling her to a stop.

Junebug wasn't ready to finish, however. She turned and moved so that she stood close next to Chub, bringing Resa and Hoss closer together. Chub apparently caught on to the mare's plan and seemed to go along with it, also bringing their riders closer.

Resa blushed at the proximity that had accumulated between herself and Hoss. She opened her mouth to attempt to rationalize the circumstances and/or apologize for them, but the most to come out of it were unintelligible, almost inaudible stutters.

Hoss partially worried that this was too much for the lady to handle, and partially decided that none of it mattered. He made no effort to speak, feeling that the circumstances spoke for themselves.

He leaned in towards her. Her eyes darted upwards to meet his. He leaned his forehead gently on hers and smiled. She slowly gave a smile to match his and leaned closer, touching noses with his.

The sun was setting behind them, painting the sky various shades of orange and pink. Despite this, no time seemed to pass, neither for the rancher's son nor for the lady. They had already long forgotten the world behind them, lost in a world of their own.


End file.
